Witnesses report seeing wayward dolphins leave Monmouth river

Witnesses claim they saw three to five dolphins who had been feared dead in the icy Shrewsbury River swim out of the waterway and into the open waters of Sandy Hook Bay last week.

The owner and several employees of Bahr's Landing, a seafood restaurant in Highlands, said they saw the animals swim past the Route 36 bridge and into the bay on Jan. 15 -- right before the river froze over.

Photo courtesy of NOAAA dolphin exhibits "mouth open," a feeding behavior, in the Shrewsbury River on Dec. 16.

"We were in the dining room talking when all of a sudden someone yelled, 'Oh my God, I just saw the dolphins!'" said Ann Luongo, a waitress at the restaurant. "I saw two of the most beautiful dolphins jump out of the river, just like you would at Sea World."

The owner of the restaurant, Jay Cosgrove, said he saw between three and five dolphins swim past the bridge out to the bay.

Luongo said she watched the rest of the afternoon to see if the dolphins swam back into the river, as they have several times before. They did not, she said.

Teri Frady, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the restaurant owner told the agency the same thing, but said she could not confirm or disprove the sighting.

NOAA spotters plan to take boats out onto the river -- which was partially frozen on Friday -- as soon as it is feasible to search for the dolphins.

The lack of dolphin sightings in recent days led to fears that they had died in the icy waters.

Three of the original 16 died before the recent cold spell; the whereabouts of the others is unknown.

Bob Schoelkopf, co-director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, said he'd love to believe the remaining dolphins made it out of the river, but has his doubts.

"When I saw them two days earlier, they were so thin they could barely swim, let alone leap for joy," he said. "I've picked up dead dolphins that had more body mass on them than these did."

Previous Star-Ledger video coverage:

Debate over actively moving Navesink dolphins

Since a pod of 16 bottlenose dolphins appeared in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers in Monmouth County in June 2008, a debate has been raging over whether federal wildlife officials should move the dolphins out. (Video by Nyier Abdou)